Babette Mangolte on Yvonne Rainer

Babette Mangolte was born in France in 1941. She was one of the first women accepted in the cinematography programme at L’Ecole Nationale de la Photographie et de la Cinematographie. After moving to New York in 1970, Mangolte worked closely with and documented the performances of such artists as Chantal Akerman and Yvonne Rainer. In 1972, Mangolte was commissioned as cinematographer for Yvonne Rainer's first film, Lives of Performers, and shortly after, for A Film about a Woman Who… (1974). During this time, Mangolte was commissioned to photograph choreographies by Rainer, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, and Steve Paxton; performances by Joan Jonas and Robert Whitman; and theatre productions by Richard Foreman and Robert Wilson. Mangolte started directing her own films in the mid-1970s. Most recently, her photography and films have been included in international exhibitions such as Art, Lies and Videotapes: Exposing Performance, Tate Liverpool (2003–4); the 5th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008); the Whitney Biennial (2010); and While Bodies Get Mirrored: An Exhibition about Movement, Formalism and Space, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2010). Retrospectives dedicated to her work have been held at the Berlin and Munich Cinematheques in Germany (2000, organized by Madeleine Bernstorff and Klaus Volkmer), and Anthology Film Archives in New York (2004), with the opening of her 2003 film Les modèles de “Pickpocket”. She has recently held solo exhibitions at Broadway 1602, New York (2010), and Scorcha Dallas, Glasgow, UK (2010). Mangolte lives in New York City.